


El mayarah

by 93Mika



Series: Tyren & Elin's Adventures - "A Love Reset" Spin off [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: A Love Reset Spin off, Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Clowns, Daxam, F/M, Family, Family Dynamics, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, KaraMel, Kidnapping, Siblings, no powers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 11:03:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11713083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/93Mika/pseuds/93Mika
Summary: “A love Reset” AU spin off<< You don't necessarily need to read “A Love Reset” before reading this,I believe I have put in enough explanations so you wouldn’t feel confused if you haven’t read “A Love Reset”. feel free to read this anyway. >>*12 years after King Mon-El and Queen Kara disbanded the Monarchy and abolished slavery on Daxam, they have to face many problems and dangers as they help to build the new Daxam.*My name is Tyren. I’m the son of the last king of Daxam. You could say I’m a Prince, but my father is no longer the King and therefore I have no title as the prince. I don’t mind that though, I love my parents. I don’t care if I’ll never be famous or rich, as long as I have my family.





	1. Don't let go of me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KaramelHaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaramelHaven/gifts).
  * Inspired by [A Love Reset](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11010876) by [KaramelHaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaramelHaven/pseuds/KaramelHaven). 



> Hey Everyone!  
> This story is a sort of a Spin-Off based on “A Love Reset” by @KaramelHaven – in the dream world where Kara is married happily to Mon-El, the prince of Daxam.  
> The idea of this fic had been going on around my mind ever since I’ve read her BRILLIANT story! You should definitely read her fic, but I believe I have put in enough explanations so you wouldn’t feel too confused if you haven’t read “A Love Reset”. feel free to read this anyway.
> 
> This story was first a wild dream and suddenly it turned into something very special when I started writing it in a matter of a few days. My hands literally shook when I started writing it and then I couldn’t stop. It is such an emotional piece and I can’t believe how it turned out to be. I wholeheartedly want to thank @KaramelHaven for the world she has built with her mesmerizing words and this fic is for her! I’m very excited for her and you to read it!

* * *

 

My name is Tyren. I’m the son of the last king of Daxam. You could say I’m a prince, but my father is no longer the king and therefore I have no title as a prince. I don’t mind that though, I love my parents. I don’t care if I’ll never be famous or rich, as long as I have my family.

I love my mother Kara. I love how she brushes her long blond tresses right before sleeping in her white or blue sleeping gown while humming a tune, how she looks at me lovingly when she thinks I’m not seeing her, how she reads me a book with her beautiful voice, how she praises my every success, tells me how much I’m like my father, how she puts a kiss on my forehead when she tucks me in bed every night, how her scent feels in my lungs when I embrace her, soothing and sweet.

And I love my father Mon-El just as much as mother. I love how he always believes in me, how he hugs me tightly when he returns after being away for the day, caresses my dark hair, how he lets me be with him when he works in his study and answers my every question, how he surprises me by making a meal all by himself in the kitchen.

And I love my little sister Elin. She has my mother’s golden hair and we both have our mother’s sky blue eyes which father always calls comets. I find it funny when he calls us his comets. Elin is sweet, graceful and smart even for a six year old girl. She always likes to be around me, believes everything I tell her – even my made up stories which she listens to with wide eyes. Sometimes she imitates me, makes a mess of my papers for school if I leave them unattended on my desk too long or plays with my action figure collection without asking me first, instead of playing with her own dolls. Despite being irritated with her on some occasions, I would do anything to protect her, just like my parents sometimes needlessly tell me to look after her.

And above everything else, I love the moments when we are all together, all four of us together in our big house or on a vacation. I feel incandescently gratified and complete every time I remember a day – not that long ago – when Elin was sitting on my mother’s lap playing with her hair, while mother put tender kisses on her soft blond curls and father had an arm wrpped around mother’s shoulders, soothingly rubbing her arm, while I was huddled in the middle of them, tucked into father’s chest with his other hand keeping me safe as I was reading a book.

With all my knowledge as an eleven year old boy, I can imagine no other moment more satisfying than this.

I wish it could be like this forever, but father has an important job as one of the leaders of our nation – the new Daxam – and it keeps him away for hours, sometimes days, from us. Mother works with him as well, though she tries to spend more time with me and Elin.

I’ve learned that Daxam was ruled by kings and queens until a year before I was born. When my father Mon-El became the King with my mother Kara as her Queen, they decided to disband the monarchy system since it was causing harm to so many people on Daxam, very few had a voice and there was slavery. My mother once explained to me when I asked her about the slavery. There are no slaves anymore and I can never understand how someone would force another person to do everything for them without paying them in return. Fortunately my father abolished slavery, and now Daxam has turned into a democratic society like Krypton. I’ve been to Krypton many times – my second home planet, because my mother is a Kryptonian – and I’ve seen the differences between my two home planets and I hope one day Daxam can become as peaceful and modern as Krypton. I have faith that my parents can really accomplish doing that. I’m also not blind to the hardships they face every day though. I have often seen them troubled, angry or utterly tired. I wish I could help them somehow. They never talk to me about their problems, always putting on a strong face for me and my sister, but as I’m growing up, I notice their sadness too. Nevertheless they always seem to conquer the bad feelings when they are together. They comfort each other, love each other and never stay upset too long after talking to each other.

I’m so proud of my parents. They are my heroes and I want to be just like them when I grow up.

It find it amusing how they often call each other by unique endearment terms. My mother calls father _Zhor_ and father calls her _Miar_. I don’t particularly like watching them kiss so deeply, like they want to melt into each other, but it makes me happy to see my parent love each other so much.

Once uncle Dar-Blaine told me how my father had claimed my mother as his mate the day they married. He couldn’t finish his story of my parents’ wedding night, because my father dragged him away hurriedly with a frown. I don’t understand what mate really means, but I think it means that my father loves my mother more than anyone else. I’ve planned to ask Uncle Dar more about it the next time I see him.

I am excited because soon uncle Kal is coming to visit us from Krypton. He always brings me and Elin cool gifts. For my Last Name Day, he gave me an orb that can project a hologram of stars and planets in Rao’s system with highest precision and since I share my mother’s love for stars, I had squealed gleefully and jumped to hug him when I realized what it was. Since then my mother teaches me the names of the stars whenever she has the time.

 We always have such a fun time when uncle Kal comes to visit us or we go to Krypton. He is a scientist, like his father Jor-El – my grandfather Zor-El is a scientist as well – and is so passionate about his work and likes to travel to other planets. Uncle Kal brings me souvenirs from his trips to different parts of our galaxy. Like he once gave me a glassy stone with a bizarre alien insect trapped in it, stones that shine different colors at different angles or some very unusual gadgets and artifacts from more developed or primitive planets. I keep them on a top shelf in my room so that Elin can’t reach them. These are my special collection which I don’t like sharing with her.

I sometimes dream of becoming like uncle Kal. Travel to every system of stars and see all corners of the galaxy.

I once wrote a paper on uncle Kal’s adventures for a school assignment which I got a top mark for and the teacher liked it so much that sent it to be published in the school journal for everyone to read it. I received a lot of positive response from it, although some kids didn’t seemed intrigued by it. I think it had more to do with who I am than the paper itself. A lot of kids keep their distance from me since I’m the former King’s son. I have come to realize, many people who used to be in the elites and royal families, resent my parents for putting an end to their previous way of life, and now their children had their beliefs and didn’t want to befriend me. I supposed their parents had warned them against me. Mostly their coldness doesn’t bother me, I have other friends, but sometimes some of them try to bully or insult me, to which I try to act indifferent and passive, because my father instructed me to do so. He said, I should be careful and never answer their empty words, but at the same time hold my pride and defend myself when I need to in a civilized and polite way. I used to be too concerned about the backlashes, sometimes got into fights, but after some time they grew tired of mocking me and gradually everything turned pretty much normal at school. A School which my mother has helped building and in this school all the children from all walks of life can attend, to learn about science, literature and art. One more thing that pisses off my father’s adversaries; why other children – from what they call inferior families – have the right to sit next to their – so called superior – children.

 

*

 

The night before uncle Kal’s visit, I laid awake thinking what would happen tomorrow. What souvenir uncle Kal would bring me this time. What we would do during the weekend. I was so happy that father had promised not to go for work and would be around this weekend. It was hard to sleep while being so excited. I kept looking at the shimmering stones on my shelf, trying to calm my mind down and slowly my eyelids grew heavier until I fell asleep.

I woke up to the faint sound of crying in darkness. It was Elin. She must have had a nightmare. Grife. Did I even fall sleep? Since I felt completely awake, I decided to go check on her. Groaning, I threw away my blanket and dragged myself out of bed. As I opened my door, Elin became quiet. I walked down the hallway towards her bedroom anyway. In the dim blue light of her night lamp, I could make out my mother’s silhouette from the doorway. She was sitting on Elin’s bed, holding her small distressed form in her arms, swaying lightly to calm her as she murmured something softly in her ear.

I went to sit next to them. Mother raised her head to watch me with tired eyes and a smile.

“ _Elin-nizu_ , look who’s here.” She whispered delightfully to Elin in Kryptonese. She often used the “- nizu” Kryptonese suffix for Elin, which was used for small children on Krypton. Both I and Elin were learning our mother’s language beside Daxamite. I was fairly good with Kryptonese, but Elin was still struggling since she was too young, sometimes slurring the words or mixing the two languages together.

Elin raised her head from its safe place in mother’s chest, sniffling and blinking her tears away to see me. She seemed fine.

“Hey _nessa_ , it’s ok. It was just a bad dream.” I told Elin in Daxamite, calling her “ _nessa_ ” – which means sister in Daxamite – like I usually did.

Elin watched me for a few more seconds before unwinding one of her arms from mother and reaching for me.

“ _Hanon_.” She called me “brother” in Daxamite.

I held her small hand in mine and the three of us stayed like that for a while until mother broke the silence.

“Do you want to talk about your nightmare, sweetheart?”

Elin looked at me before looking up at mother. “It was the Garata, Tyren told me about. The one that eats babies and breathes fire.” She then burrowed her head into mother’s chest with a shiver.

Mother shook her head, turning to look at me in disapproval, making me feel guilty. I dropped my eyes from hers.

“It was just a story baby girl. It’s not real. Isn’t that right Tyren?” Mother stroked Elin’s hair, staring at me expectantly.

“Of course, it was just an imaginary story. I’m sorry, didn’t mean to scare you Elin.” I apologized, feeling genuinely regretful.

Elin raised her head again to look at me, as if to see whether I was being serious or was just pretending to assure her in front of mother. When she saw the truth in my face – finding out I had lied to her – she frowned and pouted at me adorably, showing her striking resemblance to mother.

“ _Elin-nizu_ , let’s go back to sleep sweetheart. I’ll stay with you tonight.” Mother tenderly shifted Elin from her lap into the bed. She complied happily since mother offered to stay with her and I saw that as a sign to leave them.

“ _Mya_ can I get you anything?” Still feeling guilty, I offered to help her with anything. Calling her Mother in Daxamite.

Despite her obvious tiredness after a busy day and now waking up in early hours to comfort her daughter, – because of my stupid story to joke around with Elin – mother beamed at me gratefully and shook her head. “We’re fine Tyren. Go back to sleep dear. You have to get up early for school.”

I nodded and walked back to my room, thinking I should act more responsible and stop messing with Elin, with my made up horror stories, when she believes in them so easily.

 

*

 

Focusing in the classes was hard the next day, constantly thinking about the things I wanted to talk about with uncle Kal. The anticipation continued even when I get home, so I tried to kill time at the house until he arrives.

A new messaged popped up in my inbox. Opening it, I saw a flashing colorful advertisement lit up my hologram device. It was about a new group of exotic illusionists and acrobats who had come to Daxam and had a huge performance tomorrow night. The videos were amazing and had my heart racing. Running out of my room into the hallway, where our rooms are located, I looked around to find my parents. I decided to check their room and heard them laughing. I couldn’t understand what they were talking about with the door closed, muffling their voices. Knocking softly, I waited for them to open the door. I never enter their room without knocking. I didn’t like to walk in on them kissing, like they so often did. It was gross!

Father opened the door.

“Tyren, my man.” He tried to ruffle my hair as a habit, but I dodged his hand.

“ _Atar_ NO! I just brushed my hair!” I shouted, calling him father in Daxamite.

Laughing, father pulled me into a hug. “All dressed up for your uncle Kal?”

“Yes!” I hugged him back and saw mother smiling at us from her position, sitting in front of the mirror.

They were both dressed as well. Remembering why I came there for, I drew out my hologram device to show father the advertisement.

“Father Look! Can we please go to this show? We can take uncle Kal too! I’m sure he’d like it!”

Father watched the advertisement, he’s face a bit hesitant. Mother was watching too while putting on her earrings. He then scratches his beard.

“I’m not sure _Arne._ ” He exclaimed, calling me son in Daxamite. “I don’t think this would be proper for your sister.”

“But they have clowns and acrobats! I know she would love to see them too!” I tried to reason.

Father turned to look at mother. They watched each other silently, as if talking with their eyes.

“I think about it Tyren. We ask uncle Kal and then we decide. How about that?” He put a hand on my shoulder.

“Okay.” I answered, feeling a bit deflated. Father always talked like a politician. Guess that was because he was actually a politician.

“Dear, can you check on Elin? Make sure she’s dressed and not playing instead?” Mother asked me while I rolled my eyes. Why did I have to check on her? I nodded nevertheless. Just before I could leave though, mother added.

“Tyren I know how much you love to tell stories dear, but do you think you could tell your sister the more pretty ones?”

Oh, here was the talk I knew was coming. I turned back to face them again, feeling guilty like last night.

“I’m sorry _mya_. I know, I didn’t think she would believe it so easily. I won’t do that again.”

Mother smiled brightly and father put his hand on my shoulder again.

“That’s my man. Always look out for your family.” Father ruffled my hair before realizing what he had done.

“ _ATAR!_ ” I shouted and tried to tackle him half in revenge and half jokingly. They both burst into laughs.

Walking to Elin’s bedroom with ruined hair, I saw her sitting in a corner, playing with her dolls, talking to them and offering them food. Fortunately she was all dressed – wearing her beautiful blue dress and her hair was neatly braided on two sides.

“Elin, are you all dressed up for when Uncle Kal arrives?” I asked needlessly, for the sake of starting a conversation.

She only nodded, still angry with me for lying to her about that Garata dragon. I went closer to her, sitting on her bed.

“I know I scared you with that fake story _nessa_ , I’m sorry. I promise I won’t lie to you again.”

She didn’t respond immediately, but after a while she gazed at me questioningly, her blue eyes staring me down exactly like mother’s did.

“No more scary stories?” She demanded with folded arms.

“No more.” I promised.

And just like that she flashed me a toothy grin – with two of her baby teeth missing – and ran to hug me, letting me know that she had forgiven me.

Later that night, to my utter delight, father accepted to take us to the show. Even uncle Kal seemed curious to watch it and we all decided to go to the event the next night.

 

*

 

By the end of the show, I was full of snacks which I’d devoured during the performances. It was all so awesome that I wished I could see it all over again. Even Elin seemed over joyed to see all the clowns and unusual exotic animals dancing around. We came out of the auditorium late in the night to stand in the lobby of the theater. My parents were talking with uncle Kal. I didn’t pay attention to their conversation. My eyes drifted around the huge lobby, seeing the other people leaving the place and among the crowd I saw one of the clowns looking at me. He’s florescent colorful hair and outfit making it hard to look away from him. He waved at us with a ridiculous grin. His painted face and red nose, making him even more attracting to look at. I involuntarily waved back at him and noticed Elin stepping in front of me, waving excitedly as well.

The clown then showed us the fluffy doll he was holding in his hands. Tilting his head playfully and pointing at us to come closer. Elin thoughtlessly started walking towards him, giggling. I wasn’t too sure, but glancing back at my parents and seeing them still deep in talk, I just hurried to catch up to Elin, to watch out for her and quench my curiosity to see one of the performers up close meanwhile. We would be back before they even noticed we were gone.

The clown started moving as well. Walking backwards and shaking the doll, enticingly, urging us to follow him. A part of me was doubtful and wanted to go back and inform my parents, but I pushed back my worries, thinking this must have been a part of the show and soon we’ll find a room full of all the other performers and prizes and we followed him happily, laughing when he started to walk on his hands

We reached a door and the clown walked into it. I noticed it was dark on the other side. I stopped. My doubts grew bigger and pushed away the other thoughts. I reached and took Elin’s hand in mine, stopping her from running after the clown.

“Let me go _hanon_!”

“No Elin! This doesn’t seem right. We need to go back to _mya_ and _atar_.”

She screamed and struggled to free herself from my grip. “Tyren! I want the doll!”

She forcefully dragged me and I kept thinking. What if I was wrong? Maybe all the actors were waiting for us on the other side to surprise us? Curiosity took the better of me and I decided we sneak a peek through the door and walk back if anything seemed wrong.

“Ok, but I go first.” I instructed her.

Keeping my hold on her hand, we walked up to the door and I opened it with hesitation. I saw the clown standing five feet away in a dark alleyway, shaking the doll at us. This was all wrong. I stopped dead and wanted to step back inside. Suddenly Elin jerked her hand out of mine and ran to the clown with arms out stretched and shouting: “MINE!”

Everything happened so fast afterwards that I couldn’t keep track of it all correctly.

A dark figure from the shadows, grabbed Elin by her waist, making her scream in a fright and kick out. “ _HANON!_ ”

I jumped forward, with intense dread clenching my heart and anger filling my whole being.

“LET HER GO!”

Just as my fingers wrapped around the fabric of Elin’s dress, another set of hands gripped my torso in an iron clad, taking me away from her and I watched hopelessly as the masked man was pulling my baby sister into a vehicle.

“ELIN!” I struggled with everything I had against the hands on my chest, kicking and shouting, ineffectively.

“TYREN!” Elin cried loudly, screaming before disappearing into that vehicle.

“ELIN!” I shouted uselessly again as I felt being moved into the same vehicle. The terror had made my mind go blank completely, so much so that I didn’t even realize the hands had let me go, and only the impact to the ground shook me out of the haze. The car was speeding away. Without looking back, I jumped on my feet to go save my sister, but the vehicle was getting farther and farther away. I ran after it breathlessly, keep shouting my sister’s name until the black vehicle disappeared quickly in the thick veil of the night, leaving me staring into nothingness. I stopped on shaky legs. My eyes dropped down to the fabric of Elin’s dress ,unaware that I had been clutching it in my hand this whole time. I felt the hot tears streaming down my cheeks.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My heart was pounding so hard when I finished this chapter! I will update the next chapter as soon as possible, today or at latest tomorrow.  
> Please tell me how you think about this! How did you find it?
> 
> I have to admit that writing in first person narrative is not my strong suit, but in my heart I knew that this tale had to be told from Tyren's POV and I tried my best to do it justice. It was really confusing at first when I wasn't sure which verb tense to use, but slowly I became more comfortable with it. Forgive me if you see mistakes. English isn't my first language and I was so excited to post this so everyone can read it sooner!
> 
> P.s: I love how @KaramelHaven used endearment terms like Zohr or Miar and tried to take a page out of her book and looked around to find words for mother, father, brother, sister, son and daughter in Daxamite. Since I had no clue how to build the words out of thin air, I looked for them in an Elvish dictionary online: https://www.elfdict.com/ and I might have changed some of them a bit to sound smoother! Also, finding names for children was a really hard job! It took me about a week as I raked the whole net to investigate the meanings, history and namesakes! But I feel content now… almost…


	2. Become a Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news! Since I always tend to write longer than I initially plan, there will be three chapters instead of two.  
> So here is the second chapter and I'll post the last one in a day.

Hands wrapped around me again and I reacted violently to shake them off. Ready to fight tooth and nail. So dazed that it took me a long while to finally see it was uncle Kal.

“Tyren! Are you OK?”

I franticaly pointed in the direction where the vehicle had gone through a few seconds ago. “Elin! They took her uncle Kal. We have to go after her!” my voice sounded pitched and raw after screaming so much.

He hugged me tightly and I could sense his fear too. “I know _embish_ , we’ll bring her back.” He called me buddy in Kryptonese, trying to sooth me fruitlessly. Only then I notice the other sounds.

“Tyren?!”

I heard mother calling me urgently, sounding panicked. Uncle Kal pulled me up in his strong arms and carried me back to where mother was standing near that door.

The door which I and Elin had stupidly walked out of. No. The door through which _I_ had stupidly walked us out of. Why did she ran out of my arm? Why hadn’t I held her hand more firmly?

My eyes quickly found mother’s worried ones and then I noticed the two figures fighting on the ground, or rather one was beating the hell out of the other while shouting.

“WHERE ARE YOU TAKING MY DAUGHTER?! WHERE IS MY _Meril?_ WHO DID THIS?”

It was father, slamming his fists over and over to the seemingly barely moving and grunting man beneath him, with his every single word. Even in the darkness I saw how his face was contorted with such blazing fury, that for the first time in my life I felt afraid of him.

“Tyren!” Mother called me again with a shaken voice, over father’s loud enraged shouts. I closed the distance between us promptly when uncle Kal put me down. Quivering uncontrollably in her arms, I couldn’t take my eyes off of father. Mother winded her arms tightly around me, pressing my head into her chest, and tried to turn my head away from the open demonstration of violence in front of us, but I didn’t want to look away. I could feel she was shaking too.

For a moment, I, mother and uncle Kal were frozen and rendered speechless from father’s outburst. The man had grown silent and static under father’s repeating blows.

“ _Zohr_ …” Mother called, her voice trembling, showing how close she was to tears.

Father didn’t answer. I couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t answered mother, calling him _Zohr_. But it made him stop the punching. He was panting heavily, his eyes wide and sparking with wrath, veins had bulged out on his temples.

“Mon-El?”

This time uncle Kal called with uncertainty, causing father to move away from the man and I finally started to put the pieces together. This was the man who was holding me, trying to drag me into the same vehicle, trying to kidnap me. Father had torn him off me at the last minute and the kidnappers ran away with my sister, unsuccessful to kidnap the both of us. 

I saw the blood staining father’s hands, which were still clenched into fists, shaking slightly from sheer anger. Blood that belonged to that unmoving man lying on the ground, covering his knuckles. I couldn’t see the man’s undoubtedly injured face in the low lighting.

No one said anything. We were all in shock. I couldn’t look at father in the eyes. Instead my eyes fell on a white object behind where father was standing. A stuffed animal. The doll Elin so enthusiastically ran to get, abandoned and smudged, fallen in a heap on the ground. Its fake wide open eyes were fixed on me, boring holes in me.

Suddenly I felt such an indescribable sinking feeling of regret in my heart that I feared it would swallow me altogether at any moment, like a chasm.

It was all my fault. I hadn’t even realized that I was crying the whole time, until I felt mother wiping my tears away with her fingers. I looked up at her and saw her eyes filled with tears as well.

Someone came through the door. It was Uncle Dar-Blaine. Unlike anytime I had seen him before, his eyes seemed alarmingly serious. He inspected the scene, taking in our expressions with a hard face, and turned his attention to my father.

“I’ve sent out all the scouts. We watch all the roads. They won’t be able to go that far. We’ll get them soon Mon-El.”

Father only nodded. Uncle Dar reached a hand to lay on his shoulder. Father didn’t even bring his head up, his eyes fixed on a spot on the asphalt. Uncle Dar withdrew his hand before adding.

“You take your family back home. I will handle the reports on my –“

“Take him to a station. He must know their plans. I want to be there when they question him.” Father cut off uncle Dar’s words in a voice so unfamiliarly cold to my ears – with a slight tremor behind it – pointing at the motionless bulky man on the ground. Uncle Dar sighed, but nodded in agreement.

“Ok, I’ll call the guards in front –“

“WHERE THE HELL WERE THEY, WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO WATCH ALL THE EXITS?”

Father’s voice boomed into the dark, narrow alleyway, echoing. I shivered as if the words were whipping me. Mother tightened her arms around me. Uncle Dar flinched a bit, but I saw his eyes projecting empathy.

“Mon-El, I can’t imagine how hard this must be. Everything went wrong tonight. But you need to take them away from here, I SWEAR to all the gods and Rao that I will do everything to bring Elin back.”

It was only then when my father looked up at us. Sighing painfully he brought a bloody hand up to cover his face. Uncle Dar waited a moment to watch him, before coming closer to me and mother.

“Kara, I’ve called a car, it’s waiting at the end of this alleyway. I didn’t want you to go from the front door in this state. Please take care of yourselves, I’m sure this will all be over soon. We won’t let anything happens to her. I won’t stop until we find her.”

And I believed him because his voice was the firmest I had heard all night.

“Thank you Dar.” Mother answered in a weakly and he walked back inside in quick steps.

I heard uncle Kal calling after uncle Dar and followed him back inside.

My eyes flickered back to father and I saw him looking at us with glossy eyes. Never had I ever, seen my father crying. Never had I ever, seen him so broken and shaken. I felt my chest throbbing excruciatingly from remorse. I tried to wiggle out of mother’s hold. I understood she didn’t want to let go of me and I didn’t want to either, but I couldn’t take it anymore. Walking towards father, I stood in front of him shamefully, avoiding his eyes.

“ _Atar_ it was all my fault…I shouldn’t have persisted to come to this show… I should have told you… I should have hold her better… I should have been more careful…I was stupid…” I poured out the words, shaking and almost sobbing as I confessed.

I waited for him to slap me, hit me, shout at me, call me a moron, irresponsible and arrogant boy, a failure, or even just walk away, ignore me.

What I didn’t expect, was him putting his arms around me so lovingly, covering me with his broad chest and holding me tightly. And I couldn’t hold myself together anymore and cried loudly.

He gently pushed me away and cradled my face in his big hands, brushing away my tears with his thumbs, and looked at me directly in the eyes with his tearful grayish blue ones, in which I saw nothing but love.

“Shhhh… It’s okay Tyren. It wasn’t your fault _Arne_.” Father murmured, never letting go.

I felt mother’s hand in my hair. “It’s ok Tyren. We'd never blame you son.” She assured me with her soft voice, kissing my crown. 

I found myself squeezed between them when father reached one of his arms to hold mother close as well and she pressed her face into father’s shoulder.

We held each other close like that until uncle Kal came back. He pulled me up in his arms again and took me to the car uncle Dar had mentioned before. Father held mother close with his arm wrapped around her waist, whispering into her ear as they walked to the car. I could hear mother crying into his shoulder.

The ride back home felt as if it took forever. No one said even one word and I couldn’t help but clutch onto uncle Kal, watching my parents holding hands with intensely concerned expressions. They had said that they didn’t blame me, but I still hadn’t forgiven myself and couldn’t bring myself to ask comfort from them.

At home, mother asked me to go to bed, but I didn’t feel tired. I didn’t want to sleep. I wanted to help. How could I even shut my eyes for a second when my little _nessa_ was in the hands of my father’s enemies?

But I was only a boy. A useless, reckless fool and I accepted to leave my parents alone with uncle Kal, so they could do something to bring Elin back. I was only in their way. I had made enough mess already.

No one came up to my room to check on me. I kept walking in circles, occasionally curled up in a corner when I felt tired, fidgeting with the ripped piece of Elin’s dress in my hands, cried more a few times, but never touched my bed. Never changed my clothes. I didn’t deserve to relax. How could I lie down in my bed when Elin for sure wasn’t going to sleep on hers tonight?

Growing tired and thirsty after a few hours, I decided to venture downstairs. I wanted to know what was going on. Passing by my parents’ room, I found it dark and empty. I wasn’t surprised. Climbing down the stairs I heard the voices coming from the leaving room and sneaked up there. Not wanting to make others aware of my presence, I stayed close to the wall and strained my ears to listen to the conversation.

“… All the northern roads are blocked now. The forces stop every vehicle to search them. Unfortunately they haven’t left any finger prints. This was all planned neatly.” I recognized uncle Dar’s voice coming from the communication device.

“What happened to the suspect you took to the station?” Uncle Kal asked about the man my father had caught – and beaten to a pulp.

“He woke up, doesn’t know any details. He was only paid to take the children to a drop point. We went there. They have changed their car.” Uncle Da bitterly explained.

“Is he ok?” I heard mother asking in an unbelievably tired and worried voice which confused me a bit. Was she asking after the kidnapper’s well being?

“He’s… he’s holding up Kara. I know you wanted to be here with him, but there isn’t much for you to do. You will only feel more distressed…” I realized he was talking about father. Father had gone out to work with uncle Dar. “… All we can do for now is to be patient. The satellite imagery is being processed but it's slow. we need more powerful processors .”

“Is there anything else we can do?” Mother asked desperately.

I heard uncle Dar sighing. “I’m not sure Kara, but is there a way to ask Tyren about the details of the accident? I understand you don’t want to involve him, but there could be something we haven’t noticed in the investigation.”

“I…He’s sleeping right now. I try to ask him when he wakes up, if only I feel he’s ready to talk about tonight. He’s so shaken Dar. You didn’t see him after you left. He somehow thinks it’s his fault that they took Elin! He doesn’t see how close he was to being kidnap as well and we - ” Mother’s word trembles so hard towards the end that she stops talking. Her words melted the stony cold feeling of shame in my heart a bit as tears prick at the corners of my eyes and I suddenly felt an intense urge to run to her and embrace and comfort her. I never want to hear my mother’s voice sound so broken, ever again. Never ever.

After a moment of silence, uncle Kal spoke up. “What about the email?”

“The advertisement Tyren found in his inbox?” Uncle Dar clarified.

“Yes. I know you said these guys have left no tracks, but I think it worth a try.”

“That’s not a bad idea. We can hack into his email but it would be faster …”

I never heard the rest of the conversation as I hurried back to my room to grab my hologram device. Running back down, I let myself known this time.

“Here! You can have it! I don’t care if you break it into pieces!”

Mother and uncle Kal almost jumped out of their seats at my sudden and noisy entry. The hologram image of uncle Dar looked at me with a surprised expression.

“Tyren…” Mother called sadly, but I rushed to assure her.

“No mother, I can do this. I know you don’t think this was my fault, but we’re a family and I want to do anything I can to bring back Elin.”

 I even surprised myself with the firmness of my statement. Mother smiled at me proudly.

“El mayarah” she whispered.

“El mayarah” I repeated.

“El mayarah” uncle Kal enchanted as well.

*

I saw from my window, as our star Rao broke the horizon, chased away the darkness and brought back the day. I would have enjoyed the scene any other day, but that moment all I felt was the constant sickening anxiety that made my mind numb and my body heavy. Even though I felt beyond tired after telling all the details that I could remember of the kidnapping for everyone, I couldn’t sleep.

Uncle Kal had gone to help others, taking my hologram device with him, while Mother had stayed at home, taking the calls, rejecting the press and others demanding a meeting, sometimes called father to talk and exchange ideas and updates. I had told her that she can leave me at house and go be with father, but she kissed me on the cheek, claiming she would never leave me behind.

Wandering around the house, my legs took me to Elin’s room. Sitting on her bed just like two nights before, I looked around her room. The lilac colored walls – her favorite color – and her toys and painting colors on the shelves plainly represented her world. She had left her room in the middle of a tea party with her favorite dolls. Though this all was making my throat tighten, I couldn’t stop. I walked to her little desk, filled with small story books – full of pictures of princesses – and a stack of her paintings. My hand stopped on her latest painting. A red sky, Rao shining and a house. And in that ridiculously small house, she had drawn two figures. One bigger with spiky black hair in a red shirt and the other shorter with long blond hair, wearing a blue dress. Both smiling from ear to ear while holding hands.

Written beneath the painting in askew Daxamite letters I read “Best _hanon_ in the world!”

All I remember afterwards was lying in Elin’s small bed and crying. I don’t know how long I spent doing so until I felt mother lying down next to me, hugging me from behind. I stirred around and nuzzled into her neck and she held me like that till I finally fell asleep.

*

When I woke up I couldn’t remember why I was in my sister’s room instead of my own immediately. It was almost twilight. I sat up and noticed the blanket that someone had draped over me. The memories rushed to the surface and washed away the grogginess rapidly. How long had I slept? Had they found Elin? Scrambling to my feet, I walk out to find mother.

I hear voices from my parents’ room. Father was back. I wanted to rush in and hug him, but my steps came to a halt near the door frame when I caught on the grave sorrow in their tones. Mother was whimpering, her words hushed and shook from raw emotions. All this time she had held back her tears for me.

“… Did they say anything? Any ransoms? Any demands? Any threats…”

“No, nothing yet. They know we can track them with Kryptonian techs. They want to keep us in this state of fear with their silence.”

I almost didn’t recognize father’s voice, sounding unimaginably agonized and fearful.

“What about the clown?”

“He didn’t know anything either. Just another pawn.”

I didn’t dare to invade their privet moment. From the mirror hanged on the wall almost in front of their door, I caught a glimpse of them sitting on the bed.

Hugging each other. Lost and afraid. So contrary to all my memories of them, so paradoxical to their eternally bright and confident picture in my mind. For a moment I thought this had to be a nightmare and I would wake up to the sound of my alarm clock and it would still be the day when uncle Kal was arriving on Daxam. But a part of me knew well that this was the bitter reality I was living in now and I felt tears in my eyes again from this cruel truth.

“How’s Tyren?”

Father’s question drove me out of my internal fight with accepting the tragic actualities.

“He’s sleeping, finally.” Mother informed him, keeping her head on father’s shoulder and eyes closed. I could sense the tension form anxiety and fatigue dripping from both their postures. Father was rubbing her back thoughtlessly, the bags under his down cast eyes and his paleness visible even from the reflection, all the lines of his face were deepened, making him look much older.

“I should…I should go see him.”

Father gently moved mother’s head from his shoulder, putting his hands on both sides of her head and delicately wiped away the tears from mother’s cheeks, whispering “ _Miar”_ before putting a kiss on her lips as a single tear rolled down his own cheek. This time I didn’t look away like I always did. I watched their lips stay locked on each other’s for a long while, as if breathing life into each other and sucking out the despair, so beautiful and so heartbreaking at the same time. Then they moved with each other as father leaned forward, guiding mother gingerly down into a sleeping position, never breaking the kiss.

Running back to Elin’s room, I stood by her window and waited for father. It was completely dark now. I couldn’t even bring myself to turn on a light, feeling too disturbed from all the information and emotions grappling inside. As if brightness could unsettle me even further, going against all the dark feelings and thoughts that were squashing my whole being in their clutches.

“Tyren?”

“Father?” I swallowed hardly and walk to him slowly and saw his tall pitch black silhouette in the doorway, against the dim light of the hallway.

“Why are you standing in the dark, dear?”

Father turned the light on and I had to close my eyes momentarily against its sharp intensity. When I opened them I saw father standing in front of me, much calmer and like his old self, still wearing the same outfit he had on the last night. I struggled to find something to say, but the words slipped my mind. What was I supposed to say? Ask him about Elin’s whereabouts and remind him of that again while he had just come down? Apologize for my incautious idiotic act last night again? Or should I ask how he was?

“Are you hungry Tyren? Because I’m starving.”

I looked at him baffled. I was actually famished. I couldn’t remember eating anything since last night. Feeling too upset even after mother insisted me eating something.

“Yeah, I’m starving too.” I weakly admitted.

“Okay then, do you think you can come help me in the kitchen to make some sandwiches _Arne_? I’m sure _mya_ would eat too if we make them.”

We walked shoulder by shoulder down the hallway and down the stairs.

“ _Atar_ is she… is _mya_ ok?”

He sighed and reached a hand to grab at the nape of my neck kindly.

“She’s holding up. She’s sleeping now.”

He then stopped on his track, putting both his hands on my shoulders.

“Tyren, we need to be strong for _mya_ and for Elin. This is too much to ask when I know how all this has affected you, but can you try to look out for your mother when I’m not around? Don’t let her be alone.”

I held up his gaze the whole time, his request waking up a courage I didn’t know I had. I felt a part of me shouted in agreement with father, a fighter rising inside to smack down the hopelessness. A protector ready to give anything for his family. A part of me that I had no clue of its existence up until that moment.

“I will do everything I can to look after them _atar_. I know we will bring Elin back and I promise I won’t let anything happen to any of them ever again.”

The fighter in me roared with power, suddenly feeling so confident and hopeful, like the night was over and Rao was shining. Like I somehow knew everything will be alright again even though it didn’t seem like that.

Father beamed at me warmly and rested his forehead against mine.

“That’s my boy becoming a man.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I reduced myself to tears with this one. I clawed at myself many times while writing this chapter and I still wonder why and how!  
> it's almost 4am here and I'm wide awake!  
> this fic is going to be the death of me lmao


	3. Stronger Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You look so beautiful in this light  
> Your silhouette over me  
> The way it brings out the blue in your eyes is the Tenerife Sea  
> And all of the voices surrounding us here they just fade out when you take a breath.  
> Just say the word and I will disappear into the wilderness 
> 
> And should this be the last thing I see,  
> I want you to know it’s enough for me  
> Because all that you are is all I’ll ever need 
> 
> Tenerife Sea - Ed Sheeran

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the heart warming comments and your supports.  
> Here is the last chapter.  
> I hope you like it!

I couldn’t believe only 30 hours had passed. I had never been apart from Elin for this long ever since she was born. It certainly felt like at least a week had passed. I missed her so badly, that it hurt like hell every time I breathed. I couldn’t imagine what my parents were going through.

I still remembered the day Elin was born. Me and Elin were born naturally. My parents didn’t approve of the birthing Matrix that gave birth to thousands of children every day. Considering them too artificial and manipulative.

I was only five and over excited to meet my new sibling, thinking I could finally have someone to play with for my whole life and I would never be alone again like when mother and father had to go to work and would leave me home with a babysitter. I remember vividly when father had put Elin wrapped into a bundle of soft blanket in my arms, holding his strong arms under my slim, small arms to support them and prevent me from dropping her.

“Tyren, this is your little _nessa_.”

She was asleep. Her skin was red and I wondered if she would be always red. “Why is she red, _atar_?”

My father chuckled and put a kiss to my temple. “It’s because she’s newly born, _arne_. Don’t worry, she won’t stay like that.”

“I love her no matter what, _atar_. I know she will be beautiful just like _mya_. Because _mya_ is the most beautiful woman in this world.”

Father hadn’t said anything back then and I kept looking at my little sister until she opened her tiny eyes to look at me for the first time.

“Hi _nessa_.” I then looked at my father, wondering why he had tears in his eyes. “ _Atar_ , why are you crying? Is _mya_ ok?”

Father cracked up again. “These are happy tears Tyren, don’t worry. _Mya_ is just resting.”

Observing my sister for a few more seconds, I asked. “What is her name?”

“What do you think we should call her?” father fondly smiled.

I looked around me, I saw the book that I had been reading while waiting for my sister to be born, lying next to me. It was an old book about a hero called Valor. He was my father’s favorite character. I couldn’t read yet, but it had lots of the pictures, each demonstrating a tale of Valor’s heroics. Farther and mother had read to me most of the stories and I loved looking at the ancient paintings, retelling the stories, and drown myself in the drawings, imagining I’m Valor, fighting the monsters.

In the last page I was reading, Valor finds her long lost lover who had been taken by fire monsters. Her name was Elin-Em. The redness of my sister’s skin had reminded me of the painting in the book, showing Elin-Em trapped between crimson flames. I had imagined maybe my _nessa_ had gone through a flames and the heat had made her skin turn so reddish. Without hesitation I had called the name out loud. “Elin!”

*

Father had gone out shortly after eating his light dinner. He hugged me tightly once more and promised to call soon. I had nodded and tried to mimic his steel and confident expression, before assuring him of his unasked request. “Don’t worry father, I’ll look after _mya_.”

His face had softened then, ruffled my hair and left in the dead of night. I had then went upstairs and watched my mother’s sleeping form, happy that she seemed peaceful at least for the time being.

Walking closer to bed, I put down the plate filled with sandwiches on the bedside table near her without making a sound. Hopefully she would easily see them when she woke up. I walked back to exit the room, but stopped hovering in the doorway. I didn’t want to be alone in the quiet and dark house this night. I didn’t want to wander to Elin’s room again and break apart again. I wanted to be strong and stay close to mother.

I went back to the bed and slowly laid down on the covers – on father’s side of the bed, next to mother – making sure not to move the mattress too much and awaken her. I didn’t dare to wrap my arms around her like she had done with me, in fear of waking her up. I only took in her relaxed sleeping features, tracing all the delicate lines with my eyes in the dark room, listening to the soft ebbs and flow of her breathing, until I felt myself dozing off as well.

Awareness didn’t come to me instantly this time. I woke up to the feeling of light fingers caressing my face and slowly opened my blue eyes only to greet their identical ones on mother’s face – _Comets_ as father liked to call them. She kept looking at me lovingly. The faint smile adorning her face made me smile back and reach my hand to stroke her face, mirroring her. I noticed the room wasn’t dark but engulfed in the bright beams of red light. It was morning.

“My beautiful _unah_ …” She whispered softly in Kryptonese, calling me son.

“ _Leiu_ , I love you.” I said back in Kryptonese, calling her mother and shifted forward to nestle my face into her chest, listening to her soothing heartbeat, breathing in her familiar scent. " I will never let you feel lonely."

*

Later that morning, uncle Kal had come back to our house and slept a few hours, being awake for the past night using his computer skills to work with others technicians, searching for Elin. He then headed back there again.

It was passed noon when finally father informed us that they had found a lead and were planning to send forces to the location they believed Elin was held at. The previous day uncle Kal had gone to Krypton and brought in his Kalex robot upon mother’s suggestion. Kalex had a super enhanced processor, allowing the technicians to crack the codes of the firewall, protecting the source of the email that had been sent to me – causing all this in the first place – and had found the ties that revealed the identity of the culprits. And after highly sophisticated analysis of satellite imagery of their movements over a month, a location had been marked out.

I felt a tiny bit of satisfaction in learning that my hologram device would be the salvation that ended this nightmare and could bring Elin back to us.

I looked at my father’s hologram projection, telling us all these information. He seemed tired, but hopeful. Could Elin really be back in our arms by the end of the day?

I squeezed my mother’s hand in mine and she squeezed back. I had barely left her side since last night. Always there to make sure she wouldn’t let herself starve, distracted her and tried not to let her thoughts stumble back into the clouds of dark cincerns that I knew were there.

“Me and Kal are going with the forces to the location.” Father announced.

“ _Zohr_ …” Mother started to ask something, but stopped as if suddenly doubted whether she should ask it or not. I felt her hold on my hand tighten a bit.

“I’ll bring our _meril_ back _miar_ , I swear to Rao.” Father swore on mother’s god to fulfill her unspoken request and diminish her fears.

I watched them communicate silently with their eyes again for a moment and couldn’t help myself and asked.

“Father, can I come with you too? Please, I want to be there for Elin and…” I trailed off, suddenly unsure. On the one hand I wanted to be with father and uncle Kal and on the other hand I didn’t want to leave mother behind to wait alone in the house.

“I want to be there with you too.” Mother amazed me with her exclaim. I looked at her and saw the same thing I felt reflecting in her eyes.

“El mayarah” I recited again and mother nodded with a warm smile.

And we both faced father’s hologram picture. I saw the trepidation in his face. Contemplating our decision to be with him in the undoubtedly dangerous situation. I knew he wanted to deny us, but upon seeing the determination in our features, he caved in.

“El mayarah.”

*

Me and mother stayed in a car with a guard and a driver, parked in a safe distance from the building that was holding my baby sister captive. Father had asked us to stay put and not to get any closer until this was over. Instead he had given me an intercom device so we could stay in the loop and call if something happened.

The minutes dragged on and Rao was getting closer to the ground level, causing the shadows to stretch, making me and mother more restless.

The enforcers had surrounded the house. There had been no sudden moves. The kidnappers’ demand was for father to drop his lawsuit against a man named Jaol. He was the brain behind this kidnapping and the head of a chain of criminals who were still smuggling slaves to Daxam, even though it had been banned so many years ago. Jaol and many others had disobeyed the new law and had kept selling people like animals to their disgusting clients for years in secret and father had found out about it last year. Despite months of anonymous threatening, my father hadn’t given up his pursuit to find the master mind behind the trafficking to put him behind the bars. But in the end it had cost him his daughter being kidnapped.

Ultimately, after hours of tiring and nerve breaking negotiations with Jaol, the talks led to a dead end and we shivered as we heard the kidnapper threatened to harm Elin. Me and mother heard with frightful hearts, as the captain ordered the forces to open fire and infiltrated the building.

The shootings continued for long minutes and the intercom broadcasted only shouts and bangs. The transmission stopped soon. No one was on the other side to answer us anymore and we could do nothing, but cling to each other and pray in silence.

“Kara? Tyren? I have her! Elin is with me. She’s ok.”

Father’s panting and excited voice shattered the dreading bubble of silence we were trapped in.

“Mon-El?”

Mother shouted with relief, holding the intercom device with trembling hands and completely speechless. I saw tears streaming down her cheeks. Tears of happiness. I couldn’t say anything either. Tears blurred my vision as well

“She’s here Kara. She’s just scared. I’m bringing her to you right now.”

“Thank Rao” Mother dropped the device and pulled me in her arms sobbing hard.

When we both managed to settle ourselves down a bit, we scrambled out of the car. Impatient for father and Elin’s arrival. We didn’t let go of each other, grounding each other by holding hands.

I heard father’s footsteps before seeing him. Murmuring something constantly, he was clutching a very frightened Elin tightly to his chest. Uncle Kal was following them closely with a broad grin on his face. I was rooted to the ground, unable to move or utter a sound. I saw a cut on father’s forehead, bleeding, but it was as if he wasn’t aware of it at all. His entire focus was on calming Elin as he brought her to us.

Mother let go of my hand and ran to them with outstretched hands. She burst into tears again as she pulled Elin into her embrace and showered her with kisses.

“ _Elin-nizu_.” She cried, her pain and relief laced through her voice.

“ _Leiu…Mya”_ Elin whimpered weekly, clinging to mother. I felt the hot tears pouring out of my eyes again. Uncle Kal came to my side and gripped my shoulder.

Mother’s legs were about to give out and if it wasn’t for father she would have lost her balance, but with his strong arms around her waist, he held them up right and then he turned his head to see where I was.

“Tyren come here. It’s ok _Arne_. It’s all over dear.”

And with that I ran to my family on wobbly legs, hugging them with everything I had and cried openly.

*

After a thorough medical check-up for both Elin and father, resulting only in some stitches for fathers head injury – to our relief, nothing serious – it was time for us to go back home.

Fortunately Elin was fine. Apart from a scraped knee and being starved, no harm had come to her. They had only kept her locked down in a room and had even given her food which she had refused to eat. Elin’s red puffy eyes told me she had cried a lot since being taken away from us.

The forces had entered just in time and with father in the leading team, they had extracted Elin without a scratch. (Almost, if you took in the scratch on her knee.)

The ride home this time was completely different from the last time. Though there were tears involved, they were happy ones, ones that set us free from the tensions. Elin had her face buried in mother’s chest the whole ride, but she let me hold her small, dirty hand. It felt cold against my skin and I held it, warming it – still feeling remorseful. She raised her head to look at me.

“ _hanon?_ ”

“Hey _nessa._ I’m right here. I’m sorry this happened Elin. It was my fault.” I couldn’t stop the words coming from my mouth.

“It wasn’t your fault. I forgive you _hanon._ ” She told me in her small tired voice. And for the first time in two days I felt my heart finally unclenched and freed from the heavy weight of guilt. It was as if I could breathe again.

I didn’t let go of her hand this time. Not ever again.

Elin didn’t let go of mother for the whole night. I didn’t blame her for being so clingy. And mother didn’t let go of her either, needing to feel her in her arms constantly to make sure of her presence to convince herself that Elin was here for real and the nightmare had ended.

Mother took Elin to bath after feeding her a warm meal. We all took turns to bath, not having the heart to look after ourselves for two days. We all needed to clean, change and have proper meal.

I couldn’t help but notice how everything seemed bright and heartwarming. Like a veil had been lifted from my eyes and mind. Even the colors on everything seemed vivid and enriched.

Finally I felt tiredness pulling my eyelids down, and this time I was ready to give in to sleep with consent, but I wanted to make sure that everything was fine before going to bed. So I went to check how everyone was doing.

Father was making some calls, while drying his hair with a towel in his study. Uncle Kal was passed out on a couch and mother was playing with Elin since she refused to go to sleep before playing with her doll – which she terribly missed. When mother noticed uncle Kal’s snores, she asked me to wake him and tell him to go sleep comfortably on his bed in the guest room. Using this chance to jock with uncle Kal, I tried to wake him up by tickling him with a feather. I laughed hard when he fell down the couch, feeling like my lungs were about to give out and he roared with laughter too upon finding himself on the carpet. Our laughs drew out the other to the living room. Grabbing at my stomach, I leaned forward and laughed even harder at the sight of bewilderment on my parents' faces. And suddenly Elin broke into a round of giggles and snorts - after being unusually quiet since her return which had worried us.

I never imagined all that my parents needed to become happy again - like before all this happened - , all I needed this whole time, was to hear Elin’s childish laughs. The four of us stood there – with uncle Kal still sprawled on the floor unable to get up from the laughter – and laughed for Rao knows how long stupidly, and then we took turns to hug and kiss Elin.

And I knew it in my heart that everything was better than ok when I went to bed and father tucked me in. I fell asleep effortlessly.

Later nightmares caught me unawares in the dreams and I jerked awake, cold sweat covering my torso and face while tremors rattled my body. I blinked rapidly to wash away the after images of the horrible nightmare, in which Elin had never come back home.

I went to check on Elin. I needed to see her curled under her favorite yellow blanket and clutching her doll like every night she did.

But she wasn’t in her bed. My heart started to pound heavily like it weighed a ton. Suddenly I feared that I had imagined Elin being rescued and frantically went to my parents’ bedroom in the completely dark hallway with bare feet. Stopping at the foot of their bed, I looked at their sleeping forms.

I moved closer to father. He had his back to me, facing mother. The soft rise and fall of their breathing did little to calm my nerves. I felt my hands shaking hard as I reached forward to call my father awake.

Then I saw Elin cuddled into mother’s chest. The wave of relief hit me so hard that I wanted to lay down right there, right then.

I guess I sighed loud enough for mother to awaken from her light slumber. In the darkness, I saw she raised her head in my direction.

“Tyren?” Mother whispered.

“ _Mya_ , I was…” I answered her as quietly, unable to explain my reason to be there.

“Come here.” She spread her hand towards me. I went near her. Though we couldn’t see each other’s face, I knew she sensed my unease. Like she somehow knew I had woken from a nightmare. “Do you want to sleep here tonight dear?” She squeezed my hand. “It’s okay _unah,_ I want you close tonight as well.”

Without saying anything more, I carefully climbed onto their bed and tried to fit myself in the small gap between Elin and father. Despite my efforts not to wake father, I heard him taking in a deep breath, marking his awakening. He shifted a bit to make more room for me without saying anything and I felt his heavy, warm arm wrapping around me as soon as I laid my head down on the side of his pillow. Spooning me from behind, he put a sleepy kiss on the back of my head. I watched Elin’s sleeping face. The only one who hadn’t even stirred during this commotion. I fell asleep while holding Elin’s hand – the one she wasn’t clutching her fluffy doll with.

I can’t remember ever sleeping as peacefully as I did that night in my entire life.

And I always believe that we are truly stronger when we are together.

El mayarah.

*

**The End**

* * *

****

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys! please tell me how you feel about this whole idea! How do you feel about Tyren and Elin? I love to know your thoughts! :D  
> And now I can peacefully sleep because I hadn't sleep that much for the past three days while writing this! This was such an emotional roller coaster to me! And funny thing is that I hadn't even planned for more than half of the scenes. It was as if I was put under a spell and the words just poured out and I had to write them down fast before they disappeared!  
> There must be a Karamel cupid somewhere hitting us with his arrow! LMAO  
> Thank you so much for reading it.  
> Peace.
> 
> P.S: @KaramelHaven You Rock! Please come and read this ASAP! I'm freaking out!


End file.
